Rogers and Shaw launch free shomi beta trial

Will shomi be able to take on Netflix's streaming supremacy?

Rogers and Shaw have teamed up to launch shomi, a new streaming service. Photo: Screenshot

Patrick O'Rourke

Published: November 4, 2014 - 5:17 PM

Updated: November 10, 2014 - 2:18 PM

Rogers has launched a free beta of its new streaming platform shomi, exclusive for cable and internet customers.

Rogers subscribers are able to sign up for a 30-day free trail. After the trial period is over shomi is priced at $9 per month. The platform is available on what Rogers is calling “select” tablets, online and on mobile devices. Eventually shomi will also make its way to the Xbox 360 and Google’s Chromecast.

The platform is launching with 340 TV series, amounting to 11,000 hours, and also includes 1,200 movies. Also interestingly, according to Rogers, unlike competing services like Netflix, 30 per cent of all content on shomi will be Canadian.

If you’re a Fibre 50, 60 or Extreme internet customer, you’ll get free access to shomi until March 31, 2015.

Rogers shomi partner, Shaw, is also offering free one-month shomi trials to its customers. Shaw internet customers get an additional two months (totaling three monts of free shomi).

@Patrick_ORourke That's just the plan for the beta Patrick! Wanted to have a manageable starting point and continue to grow!

The platform is unfortunately currently only available to Rogers and Shaw customers that already have a cable or internet subscription with either company. This means that unlike Netflix, not everyone can sign up and use shomi, which will limit the service’s viability for cord cutters, bringing into question why it even exists in the first place. Shomi has said they have plans to possibly open the service up to everyone at some point.

Late last week Bell announced the company is working on its own streaming platform currently codenamed Project Latte. Specifics about Bell’s upcoming service are still unknown and the company hasn’t given a direct answer related to how its subscription model will operate.